Camera test: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Mate 40 Pro vs. Xperia 1 II vs. Galaxy Note20 Ultra

27 November 2020


Sort by:

I'm waiting for a flagship that has it all...no one did it yet: a perfect main sensor, a perfect ultrawide, a perfect telephoto with incredible optical zoom and a proper macro sensor as i love macro shots.

Normally they do a good main sensor but a average telephoto...or a good wide but a garbage macro sensor etc if they are asking us almost 1500 for a phone why can't they put top of the line sensors in all? 5mpx macro sensors...really?....

    Samvel , 29 Nov 2020Not all 3, but the top one Huawei Mate 40 Pro Plus. ( this... moreThey can't test the phone that they can't buy, so they needed to make a fairest comparison using what they had and that was Mate 40 Pro. Personally I wouldn't blame GSMArena for using the regular Pro in this comparison.

      • D
      • AnonD-122899
      • QXN
      • 30 Nov 2020

      Mate 40 Pro low light main camera is bad.... colors looks dull and horrible. iPhone nails it very much with the low light shots this time round. As for the daytime photos, Mate 40 Pro tends to have a blue tint over the photos especially when against white backgrounds. Huawei dropped the ball this time.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • pQr
        • 29 Nov 2020

        I think it would have been also more interesting to see the P40 Pro Plus instead of the Mate 40 Pro.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • pQr
          • 29 Nov 2020

          I think a Pixel 5 would have been more interesting for this comparison than the Xperia 1 II, which even has wrong official tele specifications.

            I hate the periscope idea, just something else to break. I suppose good for manufacturers and shops that do repair as they will undoubtedly make a lot on repairing broken periscopes. that said, the iphone 12 series seems a bit of a let down with all the hype that surrounded it. for example, I was hoping to see battery life increase by a large margin. I guess the 13 series will be the apple phone to wait for, as 3nm chipsets are suppose to increase battery life by a decent amount as compared to current.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • 0cL
              • 29 Nov 2020

              AnonD-731363, 29 Nov 2020Well on a Doxmark chart the best camera phone is Xiaomi Mi ... moreNope. It's because Xiaomi overprocesses, has poor color balance, has bizarre skin smoothing, and feathers grass and foliage. DxOMark has long ago stopped being an objective review site and it exists to drive visibility and sales for Chinese companies touting spec sheets for the gullible.

                • R
                • Rolfhu
                • 8$S
                • 29 Nov 2020

                I had a lot of mobile phones, but never never one from apple. Samsung I had, but after never got updates I stop to even consider this brand again. Now on a Huawei that does what I need and regular updates. I would never buy a mobile phone only because of the camera.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • fcs
                  • 29 Nov 2020

                  Shanti Dope, 29 Nov 2020What I know is that there are plenty of options to choose f... moreCan you send a link for a working gcam port for the xperia 1?

                    Iphone makes photo's more real

                      Shui8, 29 Nov 2020We are in the same shoe. Had bunch of Xperia flagship back ... moreI have to say tho, Nick T. was right. Sony itself never intended to be in computational photography, even if they have in the camera system, maybe a few chunks are taken, but not the whole cake. Even before the Alpha lineup takeover in late 2018. This is proven by how their Night Mode only baked in Xperia 10 II so far, not founded in either L4 or their 2020 flagships at all. Photo-Video Pro app with very subtle approach on post-processing instead of the more popular smartphone in the market, already given additional weights-in where Sony going to go with their own take on smartphone photography and the market they're heading for. Very segmented, very niche the way it describes, as reviewers have talked, and could be no longer pursuing total unit sales but profit margin per unit. Either Joshua Vergara, Engadget, so on. (not to mention features like 3.5mm, front stereo, camera button, etc. are "stay here or go bust" list in the fandom)

                      This is especially when the Alpha Universe website has had included the Xperia section, which only started when Xperia 1 (2019) was released. And because their Alpha camera is utilizing no computational photography in the mix, I think Sony wants the same or at least mostly similar approaches are carried into the new-gen Xperia lineup. As well, Kimio Maki, Alpha's guru was moved into Xperia after the 2018 Xperia lineup fiasco. Much confirming Kenichiro Yoshida's decision analysis on how to make sure Xperia back on track and to regain fans' hearts at any cost, after treating Xperia as the "onion-boy" pre-Yoshida era. Sure, improvements are important, necessarily based on this comparison alone (well, everything you can think of) but as I said, there's something ahead that could be interesting in a "Sony" way (keeping traditions as much as possible while incorporating technology if I interpreted it), as Sony is very unpredictable. We never know.

                        AnonD-731363, 29 Nov 2020Well on a Doxmark chart the best camera phone is Xiaomi Mi ... moreDxO has some of the most flawed testing methods out there. The reference smartphone cameras should be the LUMIX DMC-CM1 and the near decade-old Nokia 808 PureView.

                        And sure any good selling dedicated cameras could be added to the mix. I too would be curious regarding smartphone advances with video/audio recording vs. cameras designed mainly for stills.

                          YUKI93, 29 Nov 2020Isn't the 64MP camera solely for telephoto and zooming... moreCan do raw, also main camera is 26mm and this ''tele'' is 27/29mm note20/s20, so its almost the same fov.

                            • S
                            • Shui8
                            • KZK
                            • 29 Nov 2020

                            Regedit, 29 Nov 2020I was very Interested to read your opinion throughout. I... moreIf u compared the snail photos, the sky colors look the same in all 4 phones. Surprisingly, that color got similarly looks as what Mate 40 produce in the building photo, whereas on every other device its inconsistent (Note 20 closed 2nd). Really not sure wether its taken on the same time, or even whats the real blue actually that scene produce. Again, if u said Mate 40 got purple tint on the 1st pic, others produce different colors when in different scene (snail photo).

                            Another thing, when it comes to details, like that guy said, hands down, its the Mate. Foliage rendering, clean looking pictures in low light yet so much detail just by using Auto, UWA details goodness, great details preservation in-between FL sensors despite its cropped method from 23mm to 27mm, upscaling 10mp to 12.5mp. Owh lets not forget, Mate 40 got the actual 23mm feature by using x0.8 zooming, no upscale & no crop happens. Its near to Xperia 1ii 24mm FL. I can bet if its compared using that method, simply it will wipe others to dust by its biggest sensor goodies.

                              • K
                              • Kaja
                              • 0T6
                              • 29 Nov 2020

                              Anonymous, 29 Nov 2020RX100 vs cellphones - lower noise at all iso levels - ... moreOK, RX100 is much better camera, but I have a few notes. Real resolution from an old Lumia 1020 in daylight is quite comparable. Mi10 Ultra is able to make great pictures, comparable to rx100 in good daylight condition.
                              But in these days, smartphones work in a different way than DSLR and compacts and the magic word are layers. In DSLR or compacts usually make 1 "basic" JPEG and RAW. Well, it looks real and you can play with RAW. On smartphones, it's usuall, that picture is composed from a few ones. Just like HDR, clever nightmode... thats why many smartphones don't offer RAW output in automatic or default mode.
                              So, sometimes, you can get higher DR than RX100 in RAW. And its the reason, why are some pictures even in ideal light condition quite soft. So, be sure, you are comparing RAW files...but...almost nobody use RAW in smartphones and well, overprocessed pictures from smartphones are more pupular...so, its complicated - RX100 and smartphones aren't direct opponents.

                                • S
                                • SamSam
                                • tet
                                • 29 Nov 2020

                                It is mindboggling how good these smartphone cameras are nowadays. It was so unthinkable about 10 years ago. The improvement of technology has been truly awesome. I hope in near future we will able to have professional level cameras within our pockets. We won't need to carry cumbersome cameras to take decent photos anymore

                                  Anonymous, 29 Nov 2020RX100 vs cellphones - lower noise at all iso levels - ... more1). Since both RX100 VI and VII would have to resort on much higher ISO level to achieve the same exposure as phone cameras, the advantage they have in sensor's light sensitivity is pretty much negated.
                                  2). Subjective, sorry.
                                  3). At the widest end RX100 VII shows some distortion with noticeably strong chromatic aberration towards the edges.
                                  4). lol so you're basically saying all phone cameras render skins as being yellow? Or a yellow skin is not an accurate representation of how a human skin should look like under any lighting conditions? Either way you're wrong.
                                  5). Do you know phones also have an exposure slider in a viewfinder as well?
                                  6). Not all cellphone cameras do that.
                                  7). The same as 6).

                                  "Cellphone lenses do not resolve any near of total resolution"
                                  Mate 30 Pro/Mate 40 Pro?

                                    • S
                                    • Samvel
                                    • jbv
                                    • 29 Nov 2020

                                    Nick Tagataka, 29 Nov 2020Did you seriously expect GSMArena to import ALL of those 3 ... moreNot all 3, but the top one Huawei Mate 40 Pro Plus. ( this is basically the author trying to do right compare the top smartphones) than why not take the top one and not even mention anything about it.
                                    Not fare.

                                      The Voice of Reason, 29 Nov 2020Daylight: Main camera Huawei is absolute best, bar none.... moreI was very Interested to read your opinion throughout.

                                      I lost you once you said :

                                      Daylight: Main camera
                                      Huawei is absolute best, bar none.

                                      Purple tint in skies and you call absolute best...

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-731363
                                        • SH3
                                        • 29 Nov 2020

                                        Well on a Doxmark chart the best camera phone is Xiaomi Mi 10 ultra so i wonder why this hasnt been in comparison.
                                        Maybe because all those 4 brands are afraid something odd like chinese Xiaomi would and could be a lot better than the rest of the so called flagship.

                                          9 of 19